Arkansas high school brings unorthodox offense to Texas

HIGHLAND PARK — Entering the fourth quarter with a 27-13 lead on the hometown Highlanders, Pulaski Academy of Little Rock, Arkansas, faced a fourth-and-30 from its own 16.

To the surprise of many, Pulaski lined up in punt formation and booted the ball to Highland Park.

It was surprising because it was so out of character for Pulaski.

While that won’t be the only fourth down the Bruins’ face this season, it might be the only time they punt.

Last season, Pulaski went 13-1, won the Arkansas 5A title and didn’t punt. Pulaski was 11-1 in 2013 but bowed out in the quarterfinals. The Bruins did, however, punt five times that season.

The school is 77-17 since dropping the punt in 2005, making it to the state championship game twice in that span.

After the Highland Park win on Sept. 4, breaking that school’s 84-game home winning streak, the Bruins beat Wynne (Ark) 35-21 on Friday.

Pulaski, under the creative leadership of coach Kevin Kelley, doesn’t like giving up the ball. When the rules call for a change of possession, i.e. kickoffs, Pulaski typically uses the onside kick to get the ball back.

Between the kicks, Pulaski runs an offense that comes up with plays that resemble sandlot football more than organized football. Kelley then runs each play through a gauntlet of statistical checks and, if the math works, rolls them out during a game early and often.

Hook and ladder? That was Pulaski’s first play from scrimmage two weeks ago. It went 9 yards. They ran it two more times with moderate success.

Wait. There’s more.

Flea-flicker? Double-reverse wide receiver pass? Fake draw play in which the receiver gets a handoff, then stands still to launch a pass?

Yes, yes and yes. Pulaski ran them all in normal game situations that didn’t meet the traditional standards for so-called trick plays.

Pulaski is a well-coached team with sound fundamentals and perhaps a half-dozen Division I-level players attacking with speed and guile. At the same time, it’s a team that launches relentless psychological attacks that begin the moment Pulaski is penciled in on the opponents’ schedule.

Kelley, Pulaski’s coach for 12 years, bases the team’s offensive policy on sabermetrics, the application of statistical analysis to major league baseball.

“Baseball stats tell the true story,” he said after the game. “If you look deep enough, you can tell a true story without the other stuff that clouds the issue.”

The baseball stats help him see football without the built-in prejudices football’s “play it safe” traditions.

“It’s human nature,” he continued, “to manipulate facts to fit the way you want it to end. But numbers tell the whole story if you allow them to.”

There’s a one-in-three chance of recovering an onside kick, Kelley says. High school teams, on average, start offensive possessions on their 33-yard line. An onside kick results in an average starting spot of the 47-yard line. Kelley is willing to surrender 14 yards for the chance of getting the ball back.

The numbers also tell him the odds of an opponent scoring after a botched Pulaski fourth-down play are only slightly better than after a Pulaski punt.

“Everyone says football is a game of field position, but it’s not,” Kelley once told ESPN. “It’s a game of scoring points, which only happens when you possess the ball.”

Kelley uses this approach because it works. If it didn’t, he wouldn’t do it.

“It’s about winning,” he said. “If it gives us the best chance to win, we do it.”

The certainty of numbers creates uncertainty in Pulaski’s opponents.

Going for it on every fourth down and onside kicks can rattle other teams and upset an opponent’s on-field focus and rhythm.

Pulaski didn’t recover any onside kicks against Highland Park. But the threat of onside kicks, Kelley believes, made Highland Park waste practice time preparing for it.

“It’s a butterfly effect,” Kelley said. “Even if you don’t get the football on an onside kick, you’ve helped yourself in other aspects of the game.”